Chapter 1825: A New Agreement Rowan might not have fully realized his potential when he had seen Death for the first time. He suspected that Death must have seen a hint of it, but it could not be sure, and like Rowan was testing Death to build up a profile in his mind, Death was also doing the same to him. Rowan possessed the dual traits of a healer and a killer; he could destroy as well as create. And this was a trait that was incredibly rare in the higher-dimensional levels. Any random god could create or destroy, but comparing what they could do and what Rowan could accomplish was like comparing a firefly to the moon. A Reality represented the limits of Creation, while the Primordials represented the limits of Destruction. For two of these supreme limits to not only combine but were also enhanced in a single form was impossible... yet Rowan was showing promise for such a thing, and so Death... tested him. This was how the game began, between Rowan and Death. ® The cold breath of Death washed over Rowan, "Choose your words wisely, Rowan. I could forgive your ignorance in the beginning, but after our Agreement has been made, there is nothing stopping me from pulling back my support." Rowan’s smile vanished, and his words turned cold, "You have eaten the karma of the Primordial’s destruction, and I have eaten their souls. I have seen the face of destruction, and I know the harvest that they bring to you is poison. You showed me a soul collected from my Reality, but I know this is nothing." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞 Rowan gestured, and he pulled a soul seemingly from thin air, showing it to Death. If the shrieking wraith had been made mad by the manipulation of the Primordials, what he was holding was madness itself. The eyes of Death became focused on this new soul, and Rowan could practically feel the shock radiating from the body of this entity. Rowan was holding up a soul that was humanoid primarily, except for the fact that it had several arms, but what made this soul special was due to the fact that it did not emerge from his Reality or Eosah’s. This soul came from a different Reality! Death whispered, "How did you acquire a soul from Eshalon?" "That does not concern you," Rowan said, "What you should know is that I have read these souls like a book, and I know this is what the Primordials have been feeding you. They do not give you lives or stories honestly told. They send you obedient, hollow things, their potential stunted, their will broken before it was ever formed. They send you a universe of perfectly identical, silent stones, instead of a chorus of unique and glorious songs ending in a final, resonant note. Have you ever seen the true light of a mortal’s soul? Have you ever glimpsed such beauty?" Death shook in anger, as something terrifying took over its voice, reducing it to a hiss, "Have you broken our Agreement, Rowan? Do you threaten my sovereignty?" Rowan swept his hand to the side, "I threaten nothing, I only state the fact. The Agreement made with you was born from deception, but I understand the necessity of it. I was a weaker party, and the pieces I had to play with were weak. I overextended my weaknesses and undersold my strengths." Rowan tossed the broken soul towards Death and continued speaking, "A new Agreement needs to be reforged between you and me. The previous foundation of our Agreement was rotten." Death growled, a frightening sound from a Beast like it, "And if I refuse?" Rowan smiled and dismissed the Incarnation, leaving only his voice behind, "Then you shall know the fear of me." ® Inside the Origin Land, barely a minute had gone by, but the Incarnation of Rowan sent into Limbo to talk with Death had been there for hundreds of millions of years, following the flow of time in that area. Rowan had multiple incarnations in various parts of Reality and outside of it, experiencing the flow of time in varying amounts. Still, his central core was powerful enough to hold all of these scattered flows of time without any issue. He blinked as he considered his interaction with Death. His actions had been incredibly risky, but Rowan believed it was worth it. After acquiring the fifteen Origins of Time from the dead Primordial Time, Rowan began to explore its complexity, and it was already bearing fruit. A lot of the words he said to Death could only be possible because, for the first time, Rowan had the freedom to fully understand the Origin Force of another Reality. The first Origin Force of Time he was deciphering came from a Reality called Eschalon, and he was not surprised that Death would recognize it. This Reality was destroyed twelve million Cosmic Eras ago, and there should be no reason why anything of it should remain. Except that Primordials kept the Origins of the Reality they destroyed linked to their Aspect, and Rowan was able to acquire it. The true magic happened when Rowan controlled multiple Origins, and one of these Origins was the Soul Origin. Time and Soul were linked, and from the Origin of Time, Rowan could harvest the echoes of the souls locked inside it. If he had access to the Origin of Memory, Rowan suspected that he might not just be able to harvest the echoes of these souls; he might fully resurrect them, essentially stealing them away from Death. With these multiple Origins now showing Rowan a glimpse of fifteen different Realities that had been destroyed in the past, Rowan could use them as a guide to understand the mysteries of Death. Perhaps he had just made a terrible mistake, but Rowan knew that continuing with their present Agreement would be a greater mistake. Even if he was not a match for Death with his present powers, Rowan was not an easy opponent to eradicate at will, and it would shed a pound of flesh if it decided to go against him, even if he lost. Going through his actions one more time, Rowan shrugged. ’What will be, will be.’ Instead of worrying over what would happen with Death, he should be preparing for Telmus’s elevation to the ranks of Primordial... this would give him more essential data he needed for his actions ahead.